Wednesday 19 December 2012

One student's story

This week I asked one of my students, Tessa, to write a piece for my blog about her yoga experience at The Yoga Nook. Here is what she had to say .....

Twenty years ago, in my early twenties and suffering from panic attacks, a naturopath sent me to the Glebe Yoga School. This was back in the day when there were very few yoga schools in Sydney and I had no idea what to expect. I lived in Glebe at the time, and twice a week I dutifully turned up for two hours of Iyengar yoga under the direction of Peter Thomson or one of the other teachers at his school and within weeks the panic attacks disappeared and my intrigue in yoga began.

When I moved from Glebe I stopped going to the school simply because it was too difficult to get to and from Glebe without a car. Over the years as the popularity of yoga grew I tried different schools of yoga but I never found one I felt was as good for me as those original Iyengar classes. When I moved to Dulwich Hill I often walked past The Yoga Nook and was curious as to what was on offer but with two small children I didn’t have the time or motivation needed to get me there. That was until my son befriended Linda’s son at preschool and I met Linda and discovered she had done her teacher training at the Glebe Yoga School and was teaching Iyengar yoga at The Yoga Nook, so I enrolled in her classes and have been going regularly ever since.

The thing I love about Iyengar yoga is the emphasis on doing the poses correctly, and in Linda’s classes the detailed instruction has often made me realize that for years I had been doing a pose incorrectly. Her gentle instruction as you align your body into a pose takes you deeply inside your own body and there is often a point when I feel it all comes together, the balance, the lightness and the strength, and I gain the pleasure that comes with movement and the release of tension.

Linda takes great care to consider each individual’s needs and issues and offers modified versions of poses ensuring any injuries or issues are cared for. At times she will explain the effect a pose may have on our minds and our moods too, and it is these insights into yoga philosophy we all enjoy. 

The Yoga Nook is a small school and the students get to know each other and friendships are formed so it is nurturing on that level as well. It has become a place of rejuvenation for me.  No matter how tired I am, or caught up in the daily grind, I know that once I am in the room I will start to feel better. In my fantasy life I have the time to go to a class there every morning, but in reality I only make it two or three times a week, which is enough to have made significant improvements to my health and well-being.